Dallas City Council Considers Cancer Center

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A world-class cancer center may soon call North Texas home. The development is expected to bring thousands of people to the Metroplex, but the proposal must first make it past the Dallas City Council.

The proposed project would be located on the east side of Stemmons Freeway, near the Dallas medical district. Dallas Market Center owns the land but, if the new cancer center is built, UT Southwestern Medical Center would operate it.

Once fully functional, the Dallas Proton Treatment Center would be used to treat about 2,000 patients each year. About 75 percent of those people would likely come from outside of the DFW area, with most of them staying for an average of 37 days. The center would also include hotels, which means an estimated 56,000 hotel room nights each year.

City officials said that this future medical center for cancer patients will use proton therapy technology.

According to city staffers, this would be a private investment of more than $88 million. Incentives by the city — tax increment financing — will be reimbursed for the construction of infrastructure. If construction starts up by next June, the anticipated completion date would then be December 2015.

The city’s economic development committee is expected to evaluate the plan on Tuesday. The Dallas City Council is scheduled to consider the proposed cancer center next week.